Keep calm and dont clam gig 23

The prize for winning a gong show varies depending on the organizer, sometimes its cash sometimes its Prestige and sometimes as with Mr Bens it’s an 8 min slot as opener to another gong show.

My 8 spot was on Monday 11^th June, i figured that as England were playing this day it may help in that there will be more people about and Mr Bens would be busy, perhaps they were going to capitalise on the match and flyer round Leeds, or even hire a screen and show the game? Sadly this was not possible for them and it turns out that the road was closed that leads up to Mr Bens too meaning that only a handful of people turned up. Initially i felt very relaxed as an opener, basically they would hopefully recognise i was a past winner and be more inclined to relax and enjoy my set, sadly the lack of numbers meant it was difficult and the relaxed feeling i had leading up to this and while i was watching England’s draw with France had gone, now i had a feeling of.. if i’m dying on stage the gong isn’t there to come and save me!

A few familiar faces were among the participants, Ben Gibson the most notable as he had yet to gig when i was not present! Matt Fong was also participating which gave me an opportunity to meet him as i had seen his website and heard of his nights in Doncaster, Matt is confident friendly and chatty, making him instantly likeable.

 Tonight’s MC was Lewis Charlesworth who was beginning to look very at home as Mr Bens MC, when i did my 1^st ever gig back in March i thought Lewis was not as good as Sully, he is very good just different to Sully (o Sullivan the resident MC who incidentally has yet to be MC when i gig there)

Lewis asked me who was to go 1^st between myself and the other 8 spotter Marcus Barlow from Oldham. Neither of us minded so for the sake of argument i went 1^st.

I had a slight twinge of nerves but was otherwise much more relaxed than normal when 1^st appearing on stage, i tried to get a little audience interaction but quickly sussed that this was not going to work for me so made a joke of it and moved on. There were muted laughs throughout the whole set but nothing more and as i panned the room to try look at each audience member i could see which ones were getting it and which were just silent arms folded and not impressed. There were one or two of these unimpressed people in a crowd of around 20 but i was not going to let that put me off, it was my 8 mins i was going to carry on regardless. The laughs albeit muted were from the same 5 or 6 people too so i was grateful to them for their willingness to enjoy, the reason the whole room was not enjoying it and laughing is down to me and my lack of stage craft or funny enough material... it will come.

I completed my set and exited the stage with a feeling of disappointment that it had not gone better but on the whole i could not complain and at one point where i had forgotten a bit i was able to keep calm where in past i may have clammed!.

Marcus did his 8 mins and although he forgot a little bit of his set he looked more polished than me up there and was funny, i liked his set and general persona, dry and to the point.

I did not take much note of the gong show itself to report but i enjoyed Rex Purnell, Matt Fong and of course Ben Gibson who all had good sets for differing reasons while dealing with a very tough crowd.

The eventual gong show winner was joint (i didn’t get the name of one of the acts but he was good) Mark Hayden who is comedy marmite was the other joint winner, he had opted for a numbering his jokes and allowing the audience to choose the numbers. It was an interesting approach and enough to see him take joint winner.

Next for me is a trip to Driffield on Thursday 14^th.

Sheila and the sheila, gig22

I had somehow rather rapidly found myself at gig No22 after only a few months, and my 22nd gig was one of the 1st i had applied for. That being the Comedy Balloon in Manchester.

I was looking forward to this one, i had heard good things and i’m aware that Manchester is kind of the comedy capital of the North, be that true or not i was certainly exited to be doing the gig.

It was a wet drive across the Pennines as rain bucketed down for the whole journey. I negotiated my way through Manchester city centre found somewhere to park and walked the 2 min walk from my chosen parking spot to the Ape and Apple pub where the gig was held. When i arrived the girl behind the bar told me it was not open upstairs yet so i sat with a drink and waited to go upstairs while mulling over my set in my head, i did not want to forget the newish bits that i forgot in Hull.

I finally mooched (slowly walked) upstairs to introduce myself to Jason the organiser and also meet the other guys. Jason apologised to me that it was quiet, it had not occurred to me that there was only 3 people in the room, the weather and the Jubilee weekend has left the night a little short on audience members! Oh well i thought, it is worth the travel just to get another chance to perform my stuff. As i tried to become acquainted with the other acts a few more audience members filtered in, the other acts all said hello but little else, i found it difficult to get any conversation from them, they seemed to all know each other and were catching up or reading their new bits that they had come to practice so only one of them gave me any real response. I didn’t mind this, they didn’t know me and it could just be down to the way they prepare pre gig.

The MC for the night was not present yet, it was Will Duggan, i had seen him do an 8 spot at MR Bens, he recognised me when he arrived and was more forthcoming than the others with chit chat. Will kicked off the night and i really enjoyed watching him MC, he was very engaging with the Audience that was now up to around 15 people, discovering that of the only 2 women in the crowd one was called Sheila and the other was an Aussie! The Australian was there with her boyfriend and another Aussie they had befriended in the UK. I watched and enjoyed as Will warmed the audience up ready for the comedy. The running order would be John Briscoe who was also at just over 20 gigs, Steve Bujega then a break, Myself the Rex Purnell and Tony Bassnet then a break then Rich Massara doing an Edinburg preview. Only Myself and John were doing their best 10, everyone else was trying new stuff which meant the night was a bit disjointed with some new jokes that did not land but all in all i thought the crowd were quite receptive and nice. My set went ok, there were moments when there was not as much laughter as i had hoped but all in all i thought it was ok. Still plenty to work on, a few umm’s and erms and i still swear too much but i will iron out those issues hopefully. The thing that got me a bit out of the blue was the guy who came to tell me he was married to a woman from Otley and that my joke about the girls of Otley was ‘disappointing’ !!! ha all the way to Manchester to find a guy who knows Otley... but he wasn’t the only one, one of the other acts told me he knows a lot of people from Otley and he would have done an Otley is a shithole routine like mine had he thought it was any good!! I think i’d have preferred him to say, that was a bit shit rather than the subtle insult but never mind i guess he didn’t want to be rude.

So my trip to Manchester was not anywhere near as much fun as past gigs, sure there were some good moments, Jason is a nice bloke, Will was great, i got on with John and also there were free brownie’s that Jason brought. All that though was not enough for me to say i enjoyed it, a real come down from the great gig at Hull 2 days previous. I guess it won’t always be great gigs and lots of fun.... but while this is a hobby and not a job (not to presume it will ever be a job for me) i’d like it to be that way.

Next gig for me will be my 8 Spot at Mr Bens in Leeds

I've been to Hull and back gig21

Gig 21 was one i had been offered quite last minute by organisers Andy Woolston, Jed Salisbury and i think there was also input from Thom Milson. It was to be held in Hull at Hartley’s tap a venue in the nice part of Hull.... there is one.. honest!

I travelled with a couple of the HOWL guys Si Finnigan and Michael Sterret and of course my proud supporter Vikki (well i think she is proud) also on the bill were Mc Andy Woolston, Jed Salisbury, Rich Austin, Steve Rimmer and Thom Milson to headline in essence as he had a lot of friends from home (being from Hull or at least having lived there)

The trip was preceded by a lunch date with Vik (we are actually spending more time together!!! And enjoying it) then i picked up my 2 passengers and headed off to Hull in the sunshine. It was a short trip when compared with Cradley Heath or Chester but still an hours drive.

Arriving at the venue we were pleased to see it was a lovely set up with Jed and Andy already waiting for us they were concerned as there was seating for about 45 and they were expecting around 65 people. For me personally the pre gig nerves began as soon as i saw the room, i look forward to a day that i don’t get these nerves but i imagine that when that day comes there will be a little something missing from the whole experience.

Guests filtered in and the boys were not wrong, 60 plus crammed into every available seat (i felt guilty trying to reserve a nice seat for Vikki so we relinquished the comfy sofa and she sat on her own.... which she does not mind doing) Steve and Rich are guys i have never gigged with or met before so i became briefly acquainted with them before the show began.

Andy kicked off the show with natural charm and confident delivery he showed qualities that make him very likable, and was at one point leading a full audience participation rendition of the whole theme from fresh prince, which was quality. Jed was the opening act and as ever filled the room with energy as he landed every joke to perfection, Jed is funny even between jokes and has audiences loving every minute of his set.

Next up was Si Finnigan, Si has a dry manor which allows him to pluck punch lines from nowhere and grab a laugh just when it is required, his set includes some dark moments that tickle the audience’s mischievous side, a great end to the 1^st section.

2^nd section was to start with me but not before Andy had returned the crowd to ‘warm’ with a brilliant excerpt from his set.

On i went and although it was a nervy start i was providing the right kind of jokes for this crowd and i settled into my set however i missed some of my newer jokes off simply forgetting them!! I built up steadily to my Dublin routine and i think it went ok, they were a very friendly audience and although not everyone was laughing the ones that were seemed to be really enjoying it. I finished on a new joke, a cheap simple knob gag but one i came up with while MCing at madness of king George. As i left the stage and for the next 5 or 6 mins i was taking stock of my set, it hadn’t sunk in if i had done well or not but one thing is for sure, i really really enjoyed it. The other acts politely acknowledged my set with the customary hand shake and pat on the back, i say customary this does not occur if you die on stage, almost as if another comic would catch shitness if they did!!! So i was pleased.

Following me was Steve Rimmer (the only working bomb disposal expert comedian) unfortunately i can not remember much from his set as i was still reflecting upon my own but what i did catch i enjoyed.

Michael Sterret was next, a man that kind of looks like a maths tutor and speaks with an endearing Northern Irish tone but delivers utter darkness, i felt i was watching something special. He just hits you repeatedly with this darkness almost like a Thai massage, in that it’s a little uncomfortable but so so good. It was an act that both audience and the other acts thoroughly enjoyed.

There was one more break then the final section. Rich Austin was next, he had a Venn diagram which formed the best part of his set for me, it was about his kids and One Direction and it was cleverly constructed, i enjoyed the set.

Time for the final act, Thom was doing some new stuff and some stuff i have seen before. He weaved between the stories keeping the fresh mixed with the older stuff and kept the audience on their toes. His jokes come from a place in his mind that personifies self loathing meaning he is often the butt of the joke, but there are also jokes that attack, the movie face off one victim.... tbh i think any John Woo film could be attacked!!! A great end to a superb night in which all acts did well. The audience got some good quality performances so i hope they left feeling they had had a great night.

I hope Jed and Andy pursue the night as a regular event. Next for me is Comedy Balloon Manchester

MC debut gig 20

Thursday 31st May 2012 the 1st time I would be MC at a gig. I was looking forward to it greatly even though it was not an out and out comedy gig. It was to be a Cabaret night with Leeds Acoustic organising the event. It all came about as I sought a venue to hold a monthly open mic night in order to ensure i get plenty of gig time, instead I met Cal Lister from Leeds Acoustic and he asked me if we could work together. The plus side meant I would not need to organise a new night which is helpful as I hear most new nights fail within 3 or 4 months, the down side was that we would be mixing comedy with music and therefore the audience may not be as patient with the comedians as an open comedy night audience might. This would make my job very important, warm them up let them know what the night is about and get them on side early but i was relishing the opportunity to be an MC and i agreed to trial the night. I then had to choose acts to perform that would suit an acoustic night, i have so many new friends in comedy and such great acts, to choose just 4 would be hard, but i had 8 weeks from booking the event to it taking place and in that time i opted for Steve Goodall, Ross Brierley, Rich Hodkin and Ben Gibson.

The format was to be house band to play 1^st then an hour of comedy followed by 2 more bands, however i discovered on the night we were to go 1^st with the comedy followed by 3 bands, this was not an issue as we were not sure what to expect from the night, the venue was the George on great George street. The room in the basement was a nice room but as there was limited seating it meant that a crowd gathered around the bar with a few people seated at the back, able to hear but out of view therefore of the belief that their own conversations could continue at times. To the left of the stage area was a table where we as acts were able to situate ourselves, however that area may have been better served as a front row seating area for the audience. By the time i got things started it was 8.15 and the place was rammed, around 50 or 60 people squeezed in. I began with some details about the night and tried to figure out who knew what was happening and get them to support our acts, they listened and were very supportive, i did 8 mins of random chatter and threw in the odd bit of rehearsed joke before selecting a lovely lady to be our cheerleader. Charlotte was her name and she was a good front row audience member. Up on the stage 1^st was Ben Gibson doing his 3^rd gig and it was a new set from his 2 previous, he did a set of one liners to the delight of the crowd although they would laugh loudly at one joke and groan at the next i feel they were very receptive to Bens set, more so than he realised and given that more than half were there to watch the bands it was a good response. Bens best joke was one about his uncle, he did 8 mins and was warmly applauded off.

I returned to the stage and did another 4 mins, i tried to pick bits from Bens set to work off and again make a little chatter before bringing on the next act. Rich Hodkin was next, His delivery was smooth his act was slick...and sick!!! Literally at one point! Again the crowd laughed and also groaned.... a groan is a response and one that is not negative. Rich was also in good form and was applauded off, 2 great sets so far. I did another 2 mins before the break, im not sure if it is the done thing for an MC to do a little bit before the break but i went with it, so far i was getting a mixed response but while i was not being laughed at they were at least listening.

After the break i did another 8 mins, i was timing myself to make sure i was not getting the acts on to a cold audience, at the beginning i should perhaps have done more... maybe 10/12 mins but as i do not have that much material i figured i couldn’t do that long, i now realised i could by simply getting to know the audience better, i had a chat with one or two of them, this was not necessarily funny but then i kinda thought i didn’t need to be at this stage. I established that the guy in the front row wearing a hat was an Aussie, there was a Scottish guy some Spaniards, a girl from California and remarkably few Loiners! This was not MC gold but it was me finding my feet in the role a bit more before introducing Ross Brierely, Ross had won Mr Bens with me recently and i knew what to expect, his set would be full of energy and witty asides, i’ll be honest tho in that i do not think he performed as well as he did at Mr Bens, however he was ill so that may explain. That said he was still very funny and entertaining, he has a great ability to adapt to whichever night he is performing at and even with some of the usual energy missing he delivered to the delight of the audience. Ross did a solid 10 mins and again the crowd seemed happy. It was coming to a close, we had one more act left but before i introduced him i tried to fit a little part from my set in. I 1^st had to get them all back round as after Ross they began to chatter and some headed to the bar, i managed to get them back listening even able to interact with one guy... but as Vikki pointed out they were silent, she took that to be a good thing as they were chatting before but they were not laughing so i took that to be a bad thing. It was not a total disaster tho and i did not let the silence bother me which helped pick it back up before i got the applause going for Steve Goodall who was to headline. I chose to call him a headline, not to add pressure but to give the audience a definition of structure to the night, that may not make sense but whatever way you look at it Steve delivered a headline performance. Steve is likable and has a great presence that has warmth and yet he is cheeky, the jokes flow freely and he held the audience throughout his 12 mins. Steve finished the comedy off superbly and my final act as MC was to say a few bits, thank our cheerleader Charlotte and all the guys who performed before bringing the comedy to a close.

This was not the end of the night tho as the 3 bands were to come, i made my 1^st real error as MC tho introducing look yonder as blue yonder, oops.

I was asked to introduce all of the bands which i did but in essence my night was over. The Parliament of birdy Laws were the second band, i cannot review music with any real knowledge but they were fab and i think all of the comedy acts decided we had fallen a little in love!!!!

The last band were the Aristaphonics, i introduced them on, felt a little bad for them however as most of the crowd had now departed.

I too departed and reflected upon my MCing debut, i don’t know how to review myself, i know i had good moments and bad ones but all in all i think i could learn to be able to MC.

The night itself was i would say a success and i think we will try again next month but it depends on Leeds Acoustics two main contributors Cal and Fabia if they want to try again, for me my next gig is one i only found out about recently being a trip to Hull on bank hol Mon.

I'm a loser baby. Gig19

It has been a quiet week for me on the gig front, my last gig at Cant sing cant dance was 16th May meaning it was to be 15 days to my next scheduled gig.  With that in mind when i saw a notice on Facebook from Spikey Mike who runs a lot of shows in the midlands asking if anyone could fill a drop out spot at his Burton gong show in Tues 29^th i took the opportunity, it was only 13 days since my last gig now.... but i had not thought about comedy in that time due in part to some bad news in the family and a stressful week that actually ended on a high (it could have almost been an episode of scrubs except that it was not based in a hospital and all my JD’esque daydreams involved naked girls!!!!)

I set off to Burton probably a little underprepared and under cooked, this meant that when i arrived i felt a lot more nervous than the past 2 gong shows, so basically another lesson learnt is that i need to keep my set in the forefront of my mind as much as possible so i don’t forget bits or deliver it nervously.

Upon arrival i saw a few familiar faces as i shuffled to the back of the room as discreetly as possible trying not to distract Spikey Mike who had begun, but he clocked my arrival and asked hopefully if i was audience or act? I was act of course and it became clear to me the sunshine was keeping people away from the comedy clubs as only around 20 or so plus the 14 acts were in. That said 20ish is not a bad crowd.......but they proved to be a tough crowd and very brutal gonging off some good acts and barely giving the slightly less capable acts a chance. Rather than review the evening i will instead list who performed and who went through before talking about my own performance.

Aaron Twitchen – gonged

 Andrew Cairney- gonged,

 Dave Tomlinson –gonged,

Martin Asty –through,

 break

Adam Lewis –gonged

Dave Pollard –gonged,

 Jack Evans –Through,

 Gash Allen- through,

Dave Airey –through,

Johnny Greatrex- gonged ,

Break

Me(read on to find out)

Claire May- gonged

James Latley- gonged

Patrick Draper- through

Some of those acts were very harshly gonged as they were doing well but the power was in the judges hands. Judging at Spikey Mikes is done by 5 people each with red and green glowsticks, on 2 mins they are asked to flash their glowsticks, 3 or more reds and you are off, 3 or more greens and just carry on until we reach 3.5 mins and again there is a vote, if still 3 or more glowsticks it goes to the 5^th minute at more or less the end of your set where the vote decides if you make the final. i.e you could beat the gong but at the end yo could get 3 or more reds and not make the final. The final is up to an additional 1 min set to finally win them over.

My set came just after the 2^nd interval, half the audience including 2 of the judges had left during this interval so there were 2 new judges appointed, did that work in my favour?? Well maybe so as i delivered my set with a lot less conviction than the last 2 gongs i did, and i had won those 2 so there was no reason to be so nervy. The crowd were 50 50 on comedians and audience which created a muted atmosphere meaning i didn’t get big laughs at all during my set but the other acts were supportive. Vote 1 and all 5 were green, carry on. I was bumbling through it still tho and at 3.5 mins vote 2 i feared the worst, but again 5 greens, so i took a little confidence from this and did my last min and a half with a bit more gusto, the final vote and again 5 greens, i was in the final... although the wrong music was played...beck’s loser featuring the lyrics i’m a loser baby, so why don’t you kill me!!!.... ha ha how mean as if being gonged isn’t enough the ‘losers’ have to listen to that!!

In the final there was Martin, Jack, Gash, Dave, Patrick and myself, 6 from 14. All the other acts did some good bits including a lot of one liners but i clammed up a bit on my 1 min and said the punchline 1^st to a one liner so went back to my set to try recover... i knew i had blown it but to be honest i was once again very impressed with Patrick Draper and had him pegged as winner. It was in fact one liner comic Dave Airey who won and to be fair it was a great set so a deserved win, it just seemed like his deadpan style was not as good as Patrick’s but who am i to judge and he certainly had lots of laughs.

Just a quick note at the end of this blog in regards to Weds night, the day after the Burton gong i was invited to cut up at baby Jupiter where you can test new stuff or make your debut in a ‘safe’ environment, it is basically a small basement venue that the HOWL team have acquired for the purposes of testing stuff. I tried some material i had written on Tuesday out, it was ok... ish but what i wanted to point out was that nights like Cut Up are excellent for us newbies. Seek out HOWL on facebook and read Michael Sterrets article in respect of the event. Its a great read.

Next blog will be about my MCing debut, cant wait to write it.